Book Review: Creating You & Co

What are you reading at the moment? I recently finished reading ‘Creating You and Co” William Bridges, the author, talks about how in today’s business environment, workers must begin to think of themselves as independent contractors, not lifetime employees. He talks you through a process that examines the market’s needs and your own resources to find work that both satisfies and supports you. He provides a career development programme in four easy steps:

•How to discover and describe the unique mix of resoures that you bring to the new work place

•How to develop an eye for markets and use it to search for the best places to apply your resources

•How to combine the personal data about your resources with the external information about opportunitites into a viable product

•How to reinvent your career as a one person business, built around the creation and delivery of that product and how to create a practical plan to develop that business.

Part 1: WHY YOU NEED YOU AND CO has two chapters

In Chapter 1 ‘WHY IT’S SO HARD TO FIND A REALLY GOOD JOB’ – he talks about how jobs are changing and where to focus your energies. He advises on how you can look into the futre at what industries are developing. There are a list of questions to ask yourself.

In chapter 2, ‘FINDING YOUR LIFEWORK THROUGH YOUR D.A.T.A’ – the author discusses old qualifications and new qualifications and helps you to focus on your D.A.T.A – DESIRES, ABILITIES, TEMPERAMENT and ASSETS

Part 2: MINING YOUR D.A.T.A has four chapters

In chapter 3, ‘DESIRES:WHY YOU SHOULD DO WHAT YOU WANT’ – the author discusses why desires create effectiveness and how to identify your desires. He talks you through some key steps and there are some activities to do.

In chapter 4:. 'ABILITIES: WHAT ARE YOU GOOD AT?' – the question ‘do you know what your abilities are’ is asked and looks at what you can do! What are your abilities? There’s a chart for you to complete looking at all areas of your life – hobbies, interests, family life, friends, relationships, professional relationships, other ativities etc.

In chapter 5: YOUR TEMPERAMENT AND YOUR VOCATION’ – the author asks you to look at the core of who you are. What is your temperament and what does it tell you?

In chapter 6: IDENTIFYING YOUR ASSETS - the chapter looks at skills, credentials, experiences and there’s a table to complete to work through an exercise.

Part 3: TURNING YOUR D.A.T.A INTO A PRODUCT has 4 chapters

In chapter 7: FINDING YOUR OPPORTUNITY – you examine your market, advice on how to identify potential markets and identify unmet needs. There’s a step by step exercise to follow.

In chapter 8: CREATING YOUR PRODUCT – looks at envisioning your market. The author talks about how you don’t need to be entrepreneur or have a cutting edge product. There’s an exercise to look at designing your product.

In chapter 9: RUNNING YOUR MICROBUSINESS - the author looks at the future of small business and a whole series of steps on how to remodel your career into a business.

In chapter 10: MAKING YOUR PLAN AND GETTING STARTED – the final chapter covers how to create your business plan.

All in all a brilliant book and one I definitely recommend!